I know this maybe hard to believe but I’ve been making furniture for 10 plus years now and wood working for 15 and never owned a band saw. I’ve always came up with other alternatives. I’m looking for a quality band saw that won’t break the bank. My budget is $500. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!!!

23 replies so far

For that price I’d go on CL and look for a decent used 14” in good condition. Of course your profile doesn’t say where you’re at so if you’re in some little podunk town 500 miles from the nearest CL city then my advice would be to move closer to a good sized city, and then find a decent 14” used bandsaw on Craigslist.

And welcome to Lumberjocks – the third friendliest place on the internet.

I bought my 14” Porter Cable at Lowe’s, less than $500. The only difference I can see between it and the less expensive Delta is …........................................ nothing. Runs like a Singer sewing machine ! I also bought a riser kit from Grizzly – less expensive than all them other dudes, but same thing. Had to modify the pins to fit, no big deal. Two years, used 4-5 times a week and have never had a problem with it.

I have a Jet 14” and it works fine. I don’t expect laser accuracy from a bandsaw, but with a good 3tpi hook blade it will resaw 1/4” veneer stock easily. The best thing about it is I got it from my dear old dad.

-- Willie, Washington "If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice" - Rush

I paid under $200 for my Delta 14” on CL. A little elbow grease and it looks like new (it’s early 80’s model). If you can snag a deal on one, you can put the extra money into blades, fence upgrade, riser kit, motor, etc.

-- - The mightiest oak in the forest is just a little nut that held its ground.

Actually DKV it’s still a contest for 2nd friendliest. If you Google it (in quotes) there is a role-playing game forum that also comes up. I’ve been working the “third friendliest” in whenever I can, and now if you google that one in quotes you will find LJ. That’s right folks. I single-handedly moved LJ from nothing to the third friendliest out of almost 700 million. I started campaigning for third when I realized that there were too many sites claiming first place for us to ever compete. And nobody really wants to be second at anything, but third and below were wide-open.

And here’s the kicker. The phrase “friendliest place on the internet” also appears in “third friendliest place on the internet” so given that I like to run my mouth here on lumberjocks, eventually we might just slide into first base based on sheer volume. Take that all you walking prunes at the “Over 50 Senior’s Forum”!

I bought my old 14” Rockwell Bandsaw through the CL for $250, and added a new 3TPI blade, a wheel brush, a new spring and a Kreg Fence. Approx $400 invested.

Runs smoothly for a small saw, but as we all know – dust collection is poor without modification, the original 1/2 HP motor is not resawing at a fast clip, and you are limited to 6” resaw height. If you can live within those limits, then it will serve you well.

For the full $500 you may be able to find something beefier through CL, but patience is most often required.

Thank you everyone!!! I live in the NY tristate area, so Craigslist seems the way to go since i live in a populate area. Does anyone have any links to video tutorials on how to upgrade/tune up band saw? Also what upgrades would you recommend?